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Thinking of adding downriggers.....any opinions? How about gimbal mounted vs downrigger pads? I am leaning toward the cannon saltwater electrical (magni-troll?) b/c the downrigger wieght will stop when the ball leaves the water...with the Scotty you seem to need to rely on plastic markers set on the wire. Any info would be appreciated as well about durability.

Just remember if you use braid or mono the ball WILL NOT stop when it comes out of water. If you use the stainless wire it will. Just food for thought since you mentioned the weight stopping when it leaves the water.

Scotty are also very good and cheaper to purchase complete. I believe they give a lifetime warranty.

It's kind of Ford vs Chevy really. I had Canons. The ones I had were very noisy. I switched to Scotty and found they worked well for me. I set the stops on the cable and never had problems with them. Things you learn over time are: 1) The Bronze color downrigger cable seems to last longer than the SS type. 2) I take a pencil zinc, cut it to 1" long, drill it and put it on the cable near the bottom. Your cables will last longer. 3) The bottom 75' of cable will wear. Cut it out and replace it with 75' of new cable. No need to replace the whole 300' of cable. 4) Isolate the weight from the cable with a plastic clip or section of line.

I have the white Cannon tournament electrics. They are very nice and I have not had any issues with them. The down rigger its self detects the boats electrical field in the water through the wire so, thats how it stops before the weight exits the water on the way up. If you replace the wire with mono or braid the auto up will not work and you will have to hold the switch instead of touching it and walking away. I put a short length of 100 lb mono at the end of the wire to keep the weight in the water just a little bit, also my release clip slided up and down on that mono. Mine also have the rod holder mounts on swivels for easy removal.

I presently have eight Cannon electrics on two boats,and four Scotty electrics on my project boat.I have run the daylights out of the Cannons for lots of years with no major problems.I've had to replace a couple of switches,and a couple of boom pulley ends and holders,but that has been over a fifteen year period.The Cannons have been very reliable.

I just bought four Scotty's,because I have fished on my buddies boat who runs them,and i liked them very much.I like their tip up boom,and i think the whole telescopic boom setup is nicer than the Cannons.The stop beads may seem to be low tech,but that's what makes it a nice feature,it's nice and simple with no printed circuit boards to worry about.
Scottys also have a lower amperage draw.They, like the Cannons,are very reliable.

I've fished with every brand of rigger for mre than 25 years,and all of them have been good.Cannon,-Scotty,-Big Jons,-Penn,-Invader,-Proos,- Walker,and all of them worked good.It's more a matter of personal preference.It easiest to get parts for Cannon ,Scotty, Big Jon,and walkers

How important is it to get electric over manual? I fish in water usually less than 40'?
And getting back to the mounts: is the gimbal mount really strong enough to support the pressure? It would be a lot easier, and my boat is getting older. It would be nice to be able to move it to the next boat without leaving holes

A couple of thoughts. I don't like the weights coming out of the water. They can swing around and do damage, plus they are harder to get a hold of with all the stuff swinging around in the air. For that reason I run two stops on my scottys. One where the ball is in the water and one near the boom. A short hook is great for grabbing the release and bringing it up to the boat. I'm not sure which gimble mount you are asking about but I have swivels/risers on mine and they work like a charm. Don't go too high though or they get in the way.

As far as manual vs electric. I have had both. The electric is a really one of those things that once you have you will wonder how you lived without. If you fish solo it's nice to hit a button and have the rig come up out of the way. It's also easier to have your "green" buddy just stay out of the way while you do the rigging for him.

The mag10s and mag5s are awesome, especially the mag5s because they are really inexpensive and work great. They are the same thing as the mag10 but have a fixed 3' boom i think it is. The auto stop worked great too, if you put the link in provided with the rigger it should stop right at water level and i really havent had a problem with them swinging around and hitting the boat. Not saying i couldnt see it happening, i just havent experienced it.

The mag20s i think are a totally different story, the cannonlink system i tried using has proven to be unreliable. I ran 4 mag20s on my boat last year and 3 of them had to be returned for repair. The problems has been with the ports and cables associated for that system, they are cheap. The digitrolls dont need to be all linked together so id imagine you wouldnt have the same problem but i havent used them.

How important is it to get electric over manual? I fish in water usually less than 40'?
And getting back to the mounts: is the gimbal mount really strong enough to support the pressure? It would be a lot easier, and my boat is getting older. It would be nice to be able to move it to the next boat without leaving holes

Go with electric. Easier to set solo, faster to set, less hassel, and you'll want to upgrade to electrics within a year or two. Do it right the first time and you'll be happy in the long run.

We bought some used Walkers and they still work great. I've heard that some have had some issues with the spools splitting when using certain cable types (braid?) on some specific Cannon models but over all I think that the big names are all pretty good. Personally I like the looks of the Cannons.

I'll second the notion that you do not want the ball stopping just above the surface of the water. Our riggers don't have the auto stop so I either leave the ball just under the surface or I bring it up close to the boom so it's not swinging around.

My rigers mount on a TraxTech/Bert's track system and I have a buddy who has his mounted on gimble mounts. I really prefer a pad mount or track system and find that there is way too much loose play with a gimble mount.

Scotty on the west coast by 10 to 1 . Better boom , lift up features and a vast variety of accessorys. Great service.
I wonder about the Cannons with fishfinder interface for bottom track and jigging though. If I had not gone full tilt Garmin I would mount a set. I bet they will catch fish even with occasional slack line.
Any reviews ?

I have 4 electric cannons. 18 years and replaced 2 switches only. tough, strong, reliable. The only thing I don't like is the front pulley. If tension isn't kept on the cable it can jump the pulley, you then need to take it apart and put the cable back into the groove. It happens mostly with someone tying to help who is inexperienced.

If anyone has come up with fix for this or a different pulley that can be mounted I'd like to know.